Mobile ecosystems analyst firm, VisionMobile, today released its fourth Developer Economics report. The 2013 report, sponsored by AT&T, Mozilla, and Nokia, looked at developer opinions, charting out which platforms have the highest mindshare among developers as well as which platforms make their devs the most money.

AT&T has been dancing around its FaceTime restrictions for several months now. Before iOS 6 even went public, it was discovered that the carrier would block FaceTime calls over a cellular connection at its own discretion. AT&T later confirmed that users would have to be on one of its new shared data plans.

Public outcry caused AT&T to then backtrack and extend the feature to anyone with a tiered, traditional data plan and a LTE device. That still didn’t cut it. Now AT&T has updated its policy again, and subscribers with grandfathered unlimited data plans are the only ones still left out in the cold.

If you’re a Verizon customer, you’ll want to be on the lookout for an email or text message from asking if you’d be willing to share your data usage (location, web browsing and mobile application usage data) in return for coupons or “rewards.” This sort of data farming for advertisers is nothing new in today’s world, but always a bit unsettling.

While the iPod touch is a terrific little device, it would be so much better if Apple gave it a data connection. It’s so frustrating when you quickly want to check on a sports score or load up a map and you’re in an area where there’s no Wi-Fi connection. Thanks to FreedomPop, however, you can now pick up a new case for $99 that comes with built-in WiMAX.

It’s been just three weeks since the iPhone 5 started shipping, and Apple’s latest smartphones already accounts for more web traffic than the Samsung Galaxy S III, according to a new report.

It’s thought the handset’s “record-breaking sales numbers” — which have made it the fastest-selling iPhone to date — plus its “new 4G browsing speeds which encourage data usage” are just a couple reasons why the iPhone 5 is so big when it comes to web browsing.

Apple has issued its first software update to the iPhone 5 just over a week after the handset was released — but you’ll only see it if you’re on Verizon. No, the update doesn’t make Maps work. Instead, it “resolves an issue in which, under certain circumstances, iPhone 5 may use Verizon cellular data while the phone is connected to a Wi-Fi network.”

Having a weak cellular connection could mean your iPhone won’t last as long between charges,

How’s your iPhone 5’s data connection where you live? Did you know that if your signal is poor, and your handset is always struggling to get a decent data connection, it could mean that your battery life won’t last as long between charges?

When Apple releases iOS 6 tomorrow, it will finally allow users to make FaceTime calls over 3G and 4G data connections. But AT&T has decided — unlike most other carriers — that it’s going to charge its customers extra to take advantage of the feature. Understandably, this has annoyed a lot of people.

So much so that the Free Press, Public Knowledge, and the New America Foundation’s Open Technology Institute have warned AT&T that they will be filing a complaint with the FCC against the carrier for violating network neutrality rules.

Cricket has become the iPhone 5’s first prepaid carrier after announcing today that it will be stocking Apple’s latest smartphone in “select Cricket markets” from September 28. That’s a week after the device launches on AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint, but it’ll be worth the wait if you’re determined to avoid a lengthy contract.

The new iPhone 5 is almost among us, dear friends, and on this episode of the CultCast, we’ll tell you everything we know about it, ponder what Apple will actually be naming it, and tell you how to hang on to that unlimited data plan your carrier wants to move you out of.

Plus, looks like there’s a new HD tablet in town, and this one is looking pretty fern good, partner. We’ll tell you why Amazon’s Kindle Fire HD is one tablet that could actually give the iPad a run for its money.